A new Esports team has been recognized as an official student organization at EC as of Thursday, Nov. 30 at a Student Government Association [SGA] meeting.

EC students Jacob Tiso and Patrick Westerhoff presented to SGA for the already formed team claiming many more were interested.

“We are here to present a club so we can compete against other schools like Robert Morris, [University of Illinois] and Illinois Wesleyan. We already have a [League of Legends] team, along with one for DOTA 2 and Counterstrike,” said Tiso.

One of the reasons behind this organization being officially recognized was the potential of it being a form of recruitment in the future.

“This could be a way to recruit new students in the future and potentially, down the road, offer scholarships for,” said EC Dean of Students Phil Riordan. “This is something new that many other colleges are starting to recognize, Robert Morris being number one in the country, and it is looking like in the next five years the NCAA will also be recognizing this.”

This sparked a conversation on what EC would be able to offer as a D-3 school as the NCAA has already cracked down on past issues at EC.

Riordan assured that this could be considered a D-1 team and would not affect any standings with the NCAA.

“You could make this your one and only D-1 sport. Because there is no specific D-1, the way the league is set up now, they would play what are considered D-1 schools now,” said Riordan.

Later, once more members decided to show up, SGA debated on and decided to postpone the amendment changes to their constitution in response to the recent movement of impeachment and conflict of interest among the SGA board.

SGA senator Lisa Dubin wanted to keep the ability to present for clubs she represents in SGA.

“It can be a challenge to find people, especially if the group is smaller, who are equipped and knowledgeable enough to present at SGA,” Dubin said. “It would be easiest for me [to present for organization] because I know the most and I have the to position at SGA for this reason, to represent my organizations.”

SGA senator Noah Pearson agreed in saying that being on the executive board for his groups he would be the best person to present.

“I feel that in securing a leadership positions, we have constituencies and agendas. And I feel that we would be doing a disservice to not be following those agendas,” said Pearson.

Some senators thought having these changes would make presenting less biased and intimidating.

“The reason that I think the student presenting should not be an SGA rep is that it is going to make it a little more fair and a little bit more easier to have honest discussion about [the organization],” said SGA senator Marissa Gariti.

“When it’s a member of our board presenting, there is a factor of intimidation that could be eliminated,” she continued.

The debate will continue and SGA will propose and make amendments to the constitution in their next meeting on Thursday, Dec. 7.